Summary
- Goku Black Arc brought a new mystery to Dragon Ball, separating it from the typical chase and battle arcs.
- The intense mystery of Goku Black and Zamasu intrigued fans, keeping them guessing and engaged.
- Despite a lackluster ending, the mystery surrounding Goku Black maintained integrity and enhanced the story.
Dragon Ball isn't entirely used to writing mysteries with its fights or its arcs. After all, the majority of the arcs focused rather on chases and climactic battles that pitted two strong warriors against each other. However, the Goku Black Arc in particular had a huge mystery with its titular antagonist, Goku Black, a mystery that had many individuals and fans theorizing when it was coming out at the time, along with a huge amount of interest. However, with its lackluster ending along with the disconnected ending and the movement to the next arc, was the mystery really worth the story in Dragon Ball?
The story benefited from the mystery, but why did it benefit from it, and why exactly would people consider the mystery worth the amount of interest and time dedicated to the story? Among the reasons could be simply the simple desires fans wanted, as well as the intrigue and the danger that the mystery had.
Why The Mystery Succeeded
The mystery began with the reveal of Goku Black at the end of the first episode of the arc, where it was revealed that a Goku clone had been destroying Future Trunks' world, and especially the earth all over again. What led us to wonder, is what sort of threat this was, and why did it take the shape of Goku's form? Eventually, the more we learned about the Ki that Goku Black exhibited, the more we figured out that this Goku Black can't just be an evil Goku, but rather something else entirely that shared the Ki with an Apprentice Kai, that being Zamasu. This mystery only became even more dangerous once Goku Black transformed into Super Saiyan Rose, further demonstrating that this is the body of Goku, but the soul and spirit of another evil individual.
This mystery succeeded because while one problem was being fixed, another was entirely unsolved despite it. In fact, once Zamasu entered the picture, many people were confused as to how Goku Black, who is Zamasu, and another immortal Zamasu could even exist in the same place. Which is when the Time Ring comes into play, and that sets off a chain reaction of events. Goku Black is the first Zamasu to have taken steps to execute his Zero Mortal Plan, which sets off the chain of events for another Zamasu to join and commence a duo of heavenly 'gods' fighting against each other for justice.
Needless to say, the entire mystery meant that the heroes needed to fight against an opponent that had surpassed Super Saiyan Blue, and another that couldn't be killed no matter how weak he was by comparison. However, knowing this and the ending, why is it that this mystery lasted as long as it did, and it was a lot of people's favorite?
Dragon Ball: Goku's Best Transformation Scenes, Ranked
Fans have witnessed several impressive transformation scenes throughout the Dragon Ball franchise, especially when they involve Goku.
The Mystery's Worth
Unfortunately, the Goku Black arc didn't end favorably, which many fans weren't happy about. Many people even seemed to be resentful of the arc as a whole, since how it ended didn't align with how it was set up from the very beginning or even half-way into the story of the arc. Even so, the ending may have been soured by the experience, but the mystery itself is not a problematic factor, so much as it is a huge selling-point of the story and the fans that followed it before the great twist enjoyed it. Ultimately, what does this mean for the mystery of the Goku Black arc, and why was it worth it in the end? To put it rather simply, there are 4 reasons.
- Intense Mystery
- A great unknown threat
- An Unexpected Reinforcement of Goku Black
- The Downward Character Arc of Goku Black
Generally, the story was as much about Zamasu as it was about who Goku Black was. After all, two Zamasu's united and became a fusion of a godhood that inevitably began to reject itself due to the evils they had committed. The story wasn't shy about keeping the specifics about these two enemies a mystery, and especially hidden from the public fans to keep our interest. The story itself held a lot of power because of the mystery behind Goku Black and Zamasu. This means that, despite the ending, it wasn't the mystery that ruined it, and neither did the ending ruin the mystery of it all. Two separate factors in Dragon Ball don't really make the issue that bad, so the mystery of the GOku Black arc remains its integrity, and is arguably one of the better parts of the story.
Dragon Ball as a story has its own mysteries, and Goku Black wasn't the first one to do something like this before. However, even so, the fact that the arc did so extremely well is a testament to its brilliance.
- Created by
- Akira Toriyama
- First TV Show
- Dragon Ball
Dragon Ball is a franchise by Akira Toriyama which follows the adventures of Goku, a powerful warrior who protects the earth with his group of friends. A recent title from the series is Dragon Ball: The Breakers, an action style game where 7 players have to survive being hunted by the Raider.
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